Growing Independence in Fluency

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Dragon Masters of Fluency

Rationale

The purpose of this lesson is to improve students’ reading fluency. If a student can read fluently, he or she has the ability to read quickly, smoothly, and full of emotion. Students will not only be able to verbally read well, but they will also comprehend the passage or book. Reading is more enjoyable for fluent readers because they are not exhausting their energy trying to decode the words. They can easily understand what the passage is about and have more fun reading it smoothly and with emotion. They will also build confidence in their reading abilities that will encourage them to read independently. In turn, they will build more sight vocabulary and become even more fluent readers.  However, they must first be able to decode words in the text they are reading in order to advance as a fluent reader. In this lesson, students will learn strategies and skills that will help them become fluent readers by rereading the first chapter in Dragon Masters: Rise of the Earth Dragon. When students encounter unfamiliar words they can first decode. If the word is irregular or still difficult to understand, students can crosscheck and finish the sentence. Teachers can make corrections at the end of the reading.

 

Materials

• Timers/stopwatches for keeping time

• A class set of Dragon Masters: Rise of the Earth Dragon

• Pencils

• Fluency checklist with comprehension questions

• Cover-up Critter

• Chart to record words per minute

• Whiteboard

• Dry Erase markers

 

Procedure

• Say, “Good morning class! Today we are going to practice how to be a fluent reader. Who can tell me what it means to be a fluent reader?” Wait for a few students to answers. “Great! A fluent reader can read quickly and smoothly, and they can understand what the story is saying as they read. They can read and use different voices without skipping words or stopping. I bet fluent readers have more fun because reading is easier, and they have so many more books to choose from. Let’s get started, so we can all be fluent readers!”

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•  Say, “All words in the story are important, so fluent readers do not skip any words.  Sometimes when we read, we come across words that we do not know. We have some tools like our cover-up critters that will help us read these words instead of skipping them. Let’s try the word dragon.” Write dragon on the whiteboard. “I am going to use my cover-up critter and break up the word. First, I want to cover up all of the letters except the first one. /d/…/d/…/d/… Now I will uncover the r. /r/…/r/…/d//r/…/dr/.” Continue uncovering the word and blending phonemes. “D-d-d-r-r-r-a-a-a-g-g-o-o-n-n Dragon! Good job! Now let’s use it in a sentence. ‘The dragon flies around the castle and guards the princess.”

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• Say, “Now let’s try reading a whole sentence. With practice, we can read it fluently.” Write the sentence “The egg cracked, and a magic dragon came out. ” on the whiteboard. I will read the words slowly like a non-fluent reader. “The eee-ggg crraaaackked and a maaggiiiccckk (say with soft g)…. Hmm, mag-ick doesn’t seem right so let’s keep reading… drraaagggooon came out. Oh magic!” Read again more smoothly and a little faster. “The egg cracked, and a magic dragon came out. Good! Now I can read it fluently, so I am going to add some emotion. The egg cracked, and a magic dragon came out! Do you see how rereading our sentence helped me be more confident and read fluently?”

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• Say, “Now it is your turn! You will read the first chapter of Dragon Masters: Rise of the Earth Dragon. This story is about a young boy, and the king requests him at the palace. Once he is there, he meets a wizard and several other kids who are riding dragons! They think that he will be a dragon master too, but first, he has to meet his dragon. Will his dragon have powers? Will he be able to train the dragon? Let’s read and find out!”

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• Students will read the first chapter of the book to themselves silently. Encourage them to use cover-up critters if they get stuck on a word. After they read individually, pair them up. And make sure each pair has a timer, a fluency checklist, and a reading rate chart. Say, “You and your partner will read this chapter again 3 times and take turns being the reader and the timer. The reader’s job is to practice fluent reading. They will focus on the story, and try to read faster and smoother each time you read. The timer’s job is to write down the reader’s times on their partner’s reading chart. Make sure to fill out the chart all three times, so we can see if the fluency is improving or not. The timer should also listen to the reader and see if they can hear their reading change and improve over time. Does the reader not stumble over any words? Does the reader change their voice? Please write down anything you notice.

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• When the students are finished with partner work, have one student at a time come to your desk and read the first three paragraphs. They will bring their record sheet that the timer wrote on and you can attach it to the back of their assessment sheet. As they read, time them and use the formula below to record how many words per minute they read.

 

Fluency Checklist

Title of the book: Dragon Masters: Rise of the Earth Dragon

 

Student’s Name:__________________    Date:__________

 

Partner’s Name: _____________________

 

Comprehension Questions

1. What did Drake’s family do for a living?

2. Who came to get Drake?

3. What was behind the door that Drake opened?

4. Do you want to keep reading this story?

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Record Sheet

 

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(Words x 60)/ seconds = WPM

 

 

0--------10--------20--------30--------40--------50--------60--------70--------80--------90--------100

 

Correct Words per Minute

 

 

 

Resources

 

“It’s fluency Charlie Brown” by Katherine Moss

 

“Soaring into Fluency” by Stevie Potts

 

West, T., & Howells, G. (2014). Dragon Masters: Rise of the Earth Dragon. New York, NY: Branches, Scholastic Inc.

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